Only Yours (Fool's Gold #5)(75)

“What?” Eddie demanded. “We’ve all seen it. Are we going to pretend we don’t know they’re having sex?”

Charity winced, then turned to him. “Sorry. Eddie is…er, unique.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.”

Simon held up a hand. “It’s fine. I get her point.” At least Montana wasn’t here to witness all this, he thought, not sure if she would laugh or be embarrassed. Probably both.

“As I was saying,” Marsha continued, shaking her head slightly, “you bring a lot to the hospital and we think we have a lot to give in return. Which leads me to my question. What is your dream offer?”

“Excuse me?”

“Tell me what it would take to get you to stay. We’re building a new hospital. You could help with the design—create your dream facility.”

He wasn’t used to that, he realized. All the other places had simply thrown things at him, hoping to convince him with volume. No community had ever thought to ask what he wanted.

He looked at their hopeful faces and knew they would try to fulfill any request. If he wanted to run the hospital board, they would make it happen. It he wanted a fifty-foot picture of himself on the mountain, it would appear.

If only it were that simple.

“What I want,” he said slowly, “is for people to be more careful around fire, because this one life is all we get. What I want is for parents to stop hurting their kids.” He drew in a breath. “That’s not what you meant.”

Marsha smiled gently. “No, that’s not what we meant.”

What did he want? He knew there was no answer to the question because staying wasn’t an option. Selling him on the town wasn’t necessary—he already liked it here. If he could stay…

“I appreciate the offer,” he told them. “Fool’s Gold is great. I’ve enjoyed my time here. My decision to leave isn’t about the town. It’s about me.”

“How can we change that?” the mayor asked.

“You can’t.”

“I APPRECIATE THAT YOU stopped by,” Montana said, “but you look weird lying on the grass in a suit.”

Simon kissed her palm. “I took off my jacket.”

“Well, then, that makes it okay.”

After his lunch with the mayor and her friends, he’d come by the kennel to see Montana. She had been outside with the puppies, enjoying the warm afternoon. He’d joined them, stretching out on the grass, letting the puppies crawl all over him.

He glanced at his watch.

“How long do you have?” she asked.

“An hour.”

She bent over and kissed him. “Slacker.”

He laughed. “Occasionally.”

“So, tell me about this lunch you had with all those sexy women.”

He stared up at her beautiful face. “Not that I don’t admire Mayor Marsha, but the woman is in her seventies.”

“We should all look so good at her age.”

He sat up and studied Montana. He traced her cheekbones, the line of her jaw. “Speaking as a professional, you have nothing to worry about. You’ll always be beautiful.”

He watched color stain her cheeks as she looked down. “Simon, don’t.”

“What? Tell you what I know will happen?”

“I’m not that special.”

“You are to me.”

Daphne wiggled between them and started licking him.

“Your other girlfriend wants your attention.”

He picked up a delighted Daphne and cradled her in his arms. “You’re shameless.”

Daphne gave him a doggie grin and closed her eyes as he rubbed her belly.

“The lunch?” Montana prompted.

“They want me to stay in town.”

“Did that surprise you?”

“I knew it was coming. They asked me to tell them what I wanted, rather than simply offering one thing after another. To be honest, I’m surprised it took them this long to get around to making their pitch. Usually I get it from the beginning, either directly or indirectly. Sometimes one person will be sent in to convince me, sometimes it’s a committee. Either way—”

He stopped talking as Montana went white, then pressed her lips together.

“What?” he asked.

Guilt flashed through her eyes. “Oh, God. I forgot. No, it’s not that I forgot, it’s just…” She squeezed her eyes together, then opened them. “You’re going to take this wrong. I know you are. Don’t be mad, okay? Just let me explain.”

He had no idea what she was talking about. “All right.”

“It’s me. They sent me. Right after you got here, Mayor Marsha asked me to get to know you and find a way to convince you to stay in town. I was supposed to be that person. And we’ve been together and now you’re thinking I lied to you, but I didn’t. Most of the time I forgot. I mean, I had a couple of conversations with people about where to take you and stuff and…” She swallowed. “You hate me now, don’t you?”

He carefully put Daphne down on the grass, leaned toward Montana and kissed her.

“I don’t hate you.”

“I don’t understand. You should be furious. I betrayed you.”